After 42 days on hunger strike, though acknowledged by the US military, the protest by prisoners at Guantanamo Bay has so far been largely unacknowledged by international humanitarian organizations.

In a comment to RT the United Nations rights body said it is
investigating allegations of mistreatment at America's detention
facility in Cuba.

“While aware of some of the allegations of mistreatment of
inmates said to have provoked the hunger strike – which include
undue interference with the inmates’ personal effects -- we are
still trying to confirm the details,” the spokesperson for the
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navy Pillay said.

The Red Cross, which visited the island prison from February 18 to
23, was one of the few international organizations to comment on
the situation at the Guantanamo detention camp. It acknowledged
that a hunger strike was actually taking place, but so far the
organization has only released a statement, stating “The ICRC
believes past and current tensions at Guantanamo to be the direct
result of the uncertainty faced by detainees.”

Military censorship makes it quite difficult to access any
information about Gitmo prisoners. It was the attorneys for the
detainees that first expressed urgency and grave concern over the
life-threatening mass hunger strike that reportedly started in the
Guantanamo Bay detention facility on February 6.

According to the Center for Constitutional Rights 130 prisoners
went on a hunger strike to protest the alleged confiscation of
personal items such as photos and mail and the alleged sacrilegious
handling of their Korans.

Prison spokesman Navy Capt. Robert Durand, however, acknowledged
only 21 inmates to be on hunger strike. He also denied all
allegations of prisoners being mistreated.

Even if not for mistreatment and abuse, prisoners could have
started the strike just to draw attention to their being kept in
Guantanamo, with the US refusing to repatriate them, despite some
being cleared for release.

“There are 166 people at Guantanamo. Of those there are
probably 20 guys who are bad guys… like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. The
other people... more than half of them - 86 of them have been
cleared at least for three years and some during the Bush
administration - cleared as innocent people. And they are still
there and they are frustrated,” says Thomas Wilner, a lawyer,
who used to represent some of the Guantanamo detainees in
court.

According to Durand, none of the inmates on hunger strike is in
immediate health danger.

Lawyers for the prisoners believe otherwise. They have reported
some of their clients had weight loss of up to or more than 20
pounds (8kg) and have been hospitalized. Medical experts say that
by day 45, hunger strikers can experience potential blindness and
partial hearing loss.

The Center for Constitutional Rights and habeas counsel have
sent a letter to US Defense Secretary, Chuck Hagel, urging him
“to address this growing crisis at Guantánamo before another man
dies at the prison, this time under his watch. The hunger strike
should be a wake-up call for the Obama Administration, which cannot
continue to ignore the human cost of Guantánamo and put off closing
the prison any longer.”

Meanwhile, JTF-GTMO announced that flights to the island prison
from South Florida will be terminated on April 5. The step is seen
by the prisoners’ attorneys as an attempt by the Defense Department
to limit access to their clients.